West Coast Nationals at Las Vegas
- Thread starter granatl
- Start date
Just wanted to say big THANKS for the guys that put this event on. (Jon, Jack & Craig) It was great.
There were several Buick celebrities there worthy of note.
Cal Hartline from Florida flew in. (thanks to Mr. Kerney) He came out to be available for tuning help or advice. Many people rented his time for this and he got several cars running much better.
Manual Bogosnia's car was awesome with that wheelie to damn near half track, then he got out of it back in it and still ran in the 8s.
Kenny Duttweiler was there and made a few high 6 and low 7 sec runs at well over 200 mph. Awesome!
There were a lot of Buick GSs and TRs there as well as a few neat non regal, turbo Buick powered rigs.
The host hotel was very accommodating. They had all of us park over in the RV park in a designated spot that was very nice. We did not have any theft problems.
Gambling was good. Dick Kerney made sever thousand dollars.ļ
we all had an excelent time thanks to all!!
There were several Buick celebrities there worthy of note.
Cal Hartline from Florida flew in. (thanks to Mr. Kerney) He came out to be available for tuning help or advice. Many people rented his time for this and he got several cars running much better.
Manual Bogosnia's car was awesome with that wheelie to damn near half track, then he got out of it back in it and still ran in the 8s.
Kenny Duttweiler was there and made a few high 6 and low 7 sec runs at well over 200 mph. Awesome!
There were a lot of Buick GSs and TRs there as well as a few neat non regal, turbo Buick powered rigs.
The host hotel was very accommodating. They had all of us park over in the RV park in a designated spot that was very nice. We did not have any theft problems.
Gambling was good. Dick Kerney made sever thousand dollars.ļ
we all had an excelent time thanks to all!!
- Joined
- May 29, 2001
Gambling? To make any REAL money out there, just follow me around and take side bets on how BAD I lose!
I played 21 hands of blackjack all weekend, went 0/19/2
...lost 16 in a row before I managed a push!
...the wife and I sat at some nickel poker machines saturday nite. (double double bonus, 10 coin). We had our choice of machines too...We were happy that we were staying even for the first 1/2 hour. About then, a couple took the 2 machines on the OTHER end, the lady was on the second machine. Within about 2 minutes, she hit four 4's with a deuce, $80+...while she's waiting to collect, she plays the third machine, and hits four deuces with a 4, another $80+. The guy pays her for her first $80, goes back to take care of the second $80, and before he gets back, the second machine DEALT her a royal in spades, for $418...she gets paid the second $80, and while she's waiting to get paid for the royal, some guy sits at the third machine, and on his first draw nails 4 aces with a deuce, for $200+...
$780+ on 2 nickel machines in less than 15 minutes...
And then there was Craps...I'm not even gettin' started!
Other than my luck at gambling reeks, we had a GREAT time!!
I played 21 hands of blackjack all weekend, went 0/19/2
...lost 16 in a row before I managed a push!
...the wife and I sat at some nickel poker machines saturday nite. (double double bonus, 10 coin). We had our choice of machines too...We were happy that we were staying even for the first 1/2 hour. About then, a couple took the 2 machines on the OTHER end, the lady was on the second machine. Within about 2 minutes, she hit four 4's with a deuce, $80+...while she's waiting to collect, she plays the third machine, and hits four deuces with a 4, another $80+. The guy pays her for her first $80, goes back to take care of the second $80, and before he gets back, the second machine DEALT her a royal in spades, for $418...she gets paid the second $80, and while she's waiting to get paid for the royal, some guy sits at the third machine, and on his first draw nails 4 aces with a deuce, for $200+...
$780+ on 2 nickel machines in less than 15 minutes...
And then there was Craps...I'm not even gettin' started!
Other than my luck at gambling reeks, we had a GREAT time!!
Chad Oliver
Senior Member
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2002
Great event!!!!
Thanks to all those envolved with putting this event together. I had a blast! Looking forward to next year. Meet alot of cool Buick people. There were so many Buick gurus there it was awesome!
Dick K. was a riot, did you know he lowered his cholestrerol ?
Came away with $300+ more than I left with (a 1st for Vegas).
I have never seen that many white Ttypes before, they seemed to out number the GN's. Great variety of other turbo cars too. Definately a very memorable top notch event.
Thanks to all those envolved with putting this event together. I had a blast! Looking forward to next year. Meet alot of cool Buick people. There were so many Buick gurus there it was awesome!
Dick K. was a riot, did you know he lowered his cholestrerol ?
Came away with $300+ more than I left with (a 1st for Vegas).
I have never seen that many white Ttypes before, they seemed to out number the GN's. Great variety of other turbo cars too. Definately a very memorable top notch event.
I think over all this was our best year yet.....
It seemed like a whos who of the buick community....
Cal Hartline, I appreciated meeting you (I was the 6'5" guy) we meet atleast twice......I also got to hold the light when you worked magic with John Shcmidts Opel. It was very obvious that you are the most talented and familiar person I have ever seen with a FAST system.
Dutweiler running 6.85, 6.91 and 7.00's @ a high of 207.9mph I think......
Race Jase, Bruce Toelle, Gallina, Dennis Hogan, Chris Cairnes, etc...etc....the list is long......and all the racers.......all the GN's , the T's and the few tta's ........I loved the transplants too....the skylarks....the toyo....all runing 11.0's!........and the V8 guys.....they are the most laid back bunch.......the turbo guys are just spooled up alittle tighter it seems
Thank you all for coming
Jon Whittington
It seemed like a whos who of the buick community....
Cal Hartline, I appreciated meeting you (I was the 6'5" guy) we meet atleast twice......I also got to hold the light when you worked magic with John Shcmidts Opel. It was very obvious that you are the most talented and familiar person I have ever seen with a FAST system.
Dutweiler running 6.85, 6.91 and 7.00's @ a high of 207.9mph I think......
Race Jase, Bruce Toelle, Gallina, Dennis Hogan, Chris Cairnes, etc...etc....the list is long......and all the racers.......all the GN's , the T's and the few tta's
........I loved the transplants too....the skylarks....the toyo....all runing 11.0's!........and the V8 guys.....they are the most laid back bunch.......the turbo guys are just spooled up alittle tighter it seems Thank you all for coming
Jon Whittington
I won $25 and got 5 double Malibu's and Pineapple. That was about the best for the gambling.
I was at the end of the track when Kenny ran the 6.8x at 202. That was cool to see a car coming at you so fast.
I did not get to meet many folks, but there is always next time.
I was at the end of the track when Kenny ran the 6.8x at 202. That was cool to see a car coming at you so fast.
I did not get to meet many folks, but there is always next time.
ChrisCairns
Senior Member
- Joined
- May 24, 2001
I just got home. First I made love to my wife. Then I removed my seatbelt and got out of the truck.
************************************************
IT WAS A GREAT EVENT!!!
Big big thanks to the hard working threesome, Jon, Craig, and Jack. These guys did a ton of work to put it all together and they did it out of love for our hobby with no pay. Truly a classy pile of people.
If you notice in the picture of the three of them together it appears as if they're holding their hands intentionally away from each other. It's true. Originally they had their hands on each other's butts but just in time they realized the pic would be posted so they quickly pulled their hands off each
other...although once it was hands off the smiles were a tad smaller.
I'm adding another vendor to my personal "Right Up There Next To God" list. That would be Len Freeman of Performance Transmission in Las Vegas, and owner of a mid 10 second GN.
I got to Len's shop in Vegas on Wednesday afternoon. I had a 2-3 flair that had just started before I left home. I asked Len if he had the time to look at it between working on other customer's cars, working on his own car (although Otto, Mr. KLHammet on here, was doing most of the work, according to Otto. ) plus the shop was overrun by Buick guys. His handy dandy crew had it out, apart, new clutches, new hardened drum and back in before he closed. But he didn't like how it shifted so he kept it overnight and they took it out again the next morning, replaced a thingamabob gizmo, fixed my leaking pan drain plug and had it in and ready for me by noon. Charged me only $650. Shifted like a new tranny at the track. The man is a tranny wizard so if you need any work done send it to Len. He'll treat you right .... and hold onto your hats....he's honest. Great combo.
The Silverton Hotel/Casino was beautiful. I was pleasantly surprised as I had a picture in my head of a dump based on their website pic. The bad, bad, BAD thing about the hotel was one of their parking lots was being repaved so it wasn't available and they made all the Buick guests with trucks and trailers park across the street in the RV park. This RV park was beautiful also....just tooooo far away for evening parking lot bench racing
which I personally enjoy. If it's the same host hotel next year hopefully they'll let us use a portion of the new parking lot.
TRAFFIC IN VEGAS SUCKS !!!! If it ain't goin' 5 mph it's going 90. Mind you the guys from L.A. thought it was fine...lol....in Vegas there was 6 inches between cars doing 90 as opposed to 3 inches in L.A. But not good for a small town boy like myself.
Friday evening test and tune was pretty good. And the car count wasn't bad either. We got in lots of passes if needed. Personally my car sucked and I was depressed. The new 9/11 screwed up and I couldn't build any boost on the line. It also wouldn't allow anymore rpm than 2800 so I was leaving the line flat. Got it mostly dialed in and resigned myself to running MPH and not ET.
We were back at the track on Sat at 7:30 A.M. Ouch. But the day was cool and lots of passes were available as most people didn't show up until later.
Leaving at 2800 on the foot brake and achieving a neck snapping 2.3 60' I was able to get a 12.01 and a best mph of 127. Yep, 127. The car would saunter out about 100' and by then the turbo would spool and it would take off. I was looking forward to the bracket race as the opponent would see me so far behind he'd let off and I'd zoom by at the line....lol. But not to be. In my continuing quest for a wall full of blown head gaskets I kept
upping the boost until I was at 27 lbs and with a little detonation #3 let go. Big noise, racing over. The sad part is that I wasn't even going to make that pass...I was going to wait for the eliminations but changed my mind at the last moment. And if I'd waited for eliminations I wouldn't have cranked on the boost regulator. Stupid Chris, bad boy.
It really was great to see everyone again....and I look forward to seeing all you wonderful people next year.
************************************************
IT WAS A GREAT EVENT!!!
Big big thanks to the hard working threesome, Jon, Craig, and Jack. These guys did a ton of work to put it all together and they did it out of love for our hobby with no pay. Truly a classy pile of people.
If you notice in the picture of the three of them together it appears as if they're holding their hands intentionally away from each other. It's true. Originally they had their hands on each other's butts but just in time they realized the pic would be posted so they quickly pulled their hands off each
other...although once it was hands off the smiles were a tad smaller.
I'm adding another vendor to my personal "Right Up There Next To God" list. That would be Len Freeman of Performance Transmission in Las Vegas, and owner of a mid 10 second GN.
I got to Len's shop in Vegas on Wednesday afternoon. I had a 2-3 flair that had just started before I left home. I asked Len if he had the time to look at it between working on other customer's cars, working on his own car (although Otto, Mr. KLHammet on here, was doing most of the work, according to Otto.
) plus the shop was overrun by Buick guys. His handy dandy crew had it out, apart, new clutches, new hardened drum and back in before he closed. But he didn't like how it shifted so he kept it overnight and they took it out again the next morning, replaced a thingamabob gizmo, fixed my leaking pan drain plug and had it in and ready for me by noon. Charged me only $650. Shifted like a new tranny at the track. The man is a tranny wizard so if you need any work done send it to Len. He'll treat you right .... and hold onto your hats....he's honest. Great combo.The Silverton Hotel/Casino was beautiful. I was pleasantly surprised as I had a picture in my head of a dump based on their website pic. The bad, bad, BAD thing about the hotel was one of their parking lots was being repaved so it wasn't available and they made all the Buick guests with trucks and trailers park across the street in the RV park. This RV park was beautiful also....just tooooo far away for evening parking lot bench racing
which I personally enjoy. If it's the same host hotel next year hopefully they'll let us use a portion of the new parking lot.
TRAFFIC IN VEGAS SUCKS !!!! If it ain't goin' 5 mph it's going 90. Mind you the guys from L.A. thought it was fine...lol....in Vegas there was 6 inches between cars doing 90 as opposed to 3 inches in L.A. But not good for a small town boy like myself.
Friday evening test and tune was pretty good. And the car count wasn't bad either. We got in lots of passes if needed. Personally my car sucked and I was depressed. The new 9/11 screwed up and I couldn't build any boost on the line. It also wouldn't allow anymore rpm than 2800 so I was leaving the line flat. Got it mostly dialed in and resigned myself to running MPH and not ET.
We were back at the track on Sat at 7:30 A.M. Ouch. But the day was cool and lots of passes were available as most people didn't show up until later.
Leaving at 2800 on the foot brake and achieving a neck snapping 2.3 60' I was able to get a 12.01 and a best mph of 127. Yep, 127. The car would saunter out about 100' and by then the turbo would spool and it would take off. I was looking forward to the bracket race as the opponent would see me so far behind he'd let off and I'd zoom by at the line....lol. But not to be. In my continuing quest for a wall full of blown head gaskets I kept
upping the boost until I was at 27 lbs and with a little detonation #3 let go. Big noise, racing over. The sad part is that I wasn't even going to make that pass...I was going to wait for the eliminations but changed my mind at the last moment. And if I'd waited for eliminations I wouldn't have cranked on the boost regulator. Stupid Chris, bad boy.
It really was great to see everyone again....and I look forward to seeing all you wonderful people next year.
11 hours for me and the GF to our lay over...another 3+ tomorrow to actually get home.
Had a great time at the event, I didnt meet many people, was busy taking pics and watching the races. I have 200+ pics or so I will try to have up by weeks end. I did see a few faces I regonized, BFH, Bruce Toule, and WFO (shawn isnt it?)
And what he hell happened with the tail-gate party? I brought home over 3 cases of beer, I got some drinking to do now,lol
Also, who was racer G12? I saw you today in the traffic jam on I-15, I was the little white VW wagon that honked and gave you the thumbs up.
Had a great time at the event, I didnt meet many people, was busy taking pics and watching the races. I have 200+ pics or so I will try to have up by weeks end. I did see a few faces I regonized, BFH, Bruce Toule, and WFO (shawn isnt it?)
And what he hell happened with the tail-gate party? I brought home over 3 cases of beer, I got some drinking to do now,lol
Also, who was racer G12? I saw you today in the traffic jam on I-15, I was the little white VW wagon that honked and gave you the thumbs up.
WE4
TBcom Admin /Prayers NYFD/NYPD
- Joined
- May 24, 2001
I made it home in
8.5 hrs. That is a new record from Vegas. Prior one was 10 so , That new Duramax really hauls a$$ man! Record time and on 1and 1/4 tanks of fuel to boot!!!
Now I have the pleasure ( Insert some dumb a$$ed sarcastic remark here) of turning around and headed back down to Bakersfield (300 miles) Tuesday morning to get whats left of my wrecked truck.
Bruce
WE4
8.5 hrs. That is a new record from Vegas. Prior one was 10 so , That new Duramax really hauls a$$ man! Record time and on 1and 1/4 tanks of fuel to boot!!!
Now I have the pleasure ( Insert some dumb a$$ed sarcastic remark here) of turning around and headed back down to Bakersfield (300 miles) Tuesday morning to get whats left of my wrecked truck.
Bruce
WE4
Awesome!
Greets all! Yes, this is my first post, no I don't have a turbo Buick.
My dad is the guy with the Buick and he and my brother made the trip from Dayton, OH to the track to watch the event. I had a great time both at the track and in Vegas. Since I'm a bit of a turbo freak regardless of the car its in (well.. some rice doesn't do it for me, but I digress) we stayed for some of the Supra event as well.
I just wanted to drop you guys a note and say that I thought you put on a really cool event. There were some sick fast cars there (Duttweiler's cars are insane) and all in all I thought you guys put up a real good showing.
I didn't take any pics but I did take about an hours worth of video of runs including the Buick classes. I haven't had a chance to nab them from my camera yet but I'll post back with a hosted address if anyone is interested.
Anywho... just wanted to say nice show, nice cars, nice times..
My dad will probably lurk here forever so I figured I'd just post so someone knew we made the trip and had fun. Maybe next year we'll trailer his Buick (and hey, maybe even my stealth) and actually get to run with you guys.
Nice show.
Greets all! Yes, this is my first post, no I don't have a turbo Buick.
My dad is the guy with the Buick and he and my brother made the trip from Dayton, OH to the track to watch the event. I had a great time both at the track and in Vegas. Since I'm a bit of a turbo freak regardless of the car its in (well.. some rice doesn't do it for me, but I digress) we stayed for some of the Supra event as well.
I just wanted to drop you guys a note and say that I thought you put on a really cool event. There were some sick fast cars there (Duttweiler's cars are insane) and all in all I thought you guys put up a real good showing.
I didn't take any pics but I did take about an hours worth of video of runs including the Buick classes. I haven't had a chance to nab them from my camera yet but I'll post back with a hosted address if anyone is interested.
Anywho... just wanted to say nice show, nice cars, nice times..
My dad will probably lurk here forever so I figured I'd just post so someone knew we made the trip and had fun. Maybe next year we'll trailer his Buick (and hey, maybe even my stealth) and actually get to run with you guys.
Nice show.
2quiktocare
Tech Forum Advisor
- Joined
- May 12, 2003
Just wanted to thank everyone there. It was a fantastic meet and these Buick guys are among the best out there. Very nice bunch of people and all were in great spirits (both types) and willing to share stories and conquest. I will have a couple of letters coming in tonight about mine and Bruce's journey just to get to Vegas and all the fun had after we finally got out of Bikersfield (a.k.a. Bakersfield). Just wanted to say it was great meeting so many of the people I talk to on a regular basis. If you have never met Cal Hartline and his wife Holly, your life is not yet complete. Good people and fun to set at a black jack table with. Nick Micale and Jack Evers are like family and I value the time spent around them. Dick Kearny is a great guy and I do promise him that we will get at least that .8 seconds back to him soon. More to follow soon, and I haven't even come close to mentioning all that we met, but will try to cover everyone. Thanks to all associated with the event and so looking forward to next year. One last thing, WFO, you da man dude. Was good meeting you also. Mark
- Joined
- May 29, 2001
Re: Awesome!
I know it's taken out of context, but I just had to laugh!
I know it's taken out of context, but I just had to laugh!
guess what was waiting for me when i arrived home from vegas?....
Those Flamed RJC Racing hats that everyone wanted!
So for anyone who wanted one i have one for you now.
here is a pic
http://rjcracing.com/RJC_Buick_Products/RJC_Flamed_Hats/rjc_flamed_hats.html
the picture does not do them justice
Those Flamed RJC Racing hats that everyone wanted!
So for anyone who wanted one i have one for you now.
here is a pic
http://rjcracing.com/RJC_Buick_Products/RJC_Flamed_Hats/rjc_flamed_hats.html
the picture does not do them justice